


Ragnarøkkr

by OldSleepy



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 12:32:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2547605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldSleepy/pseuds/OldSleepy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despair can go and happen some other time, or so a capricious Junko tells her astounded sister. Now, purposeless and adrift, Mukuro has to attempt to fit into Hope's Peak on her own. Plays fast and loose with the timeline. A story of a smaller kind of despair; the other sister's unpleasant dream. Some ship teasing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ragnarøkkr

**Author's Note:**

> For an encouraging stranger. Thanks, friend.

She would do absolutely anything for her sister - absolutely anything. 

Trembling, Mukuro stared at a point just beyond her twin sister, who was lounging around the floor, chip grease and salt staining blood-red nails.

"Yeah, it's over. I just haven't been feeling it recently! I mean, c'mon? Like, a school plot that makes the entire world fall into despair? It's like some c-list movie plot! I don't wanna!"

With a little whine as she turned the pages of a magazine, Junko's lips curled into a picture-perfect pout. She was as fickle as anyone Mukuro had ever known, but this... Mukuro's blank eyes shut as she tried to read her sister. Junko was the sort to be constantly thinking, to erase and discard new plans before they'd even hit the runway. There must be another angle, there had to be another angle...

"There's no other angle, sis. I just wanna stay home and make fun of all these other losers. You should try it sometime, it's really therapeutic! See, it does wonders for my skin!" Grinning, Junko pulled the skin near her lips, as if telling Mukuro to take a closer look - as if there would be wrinkles or blemishes at all. Mukuro nodded her head in unspoken agreement as Junko began laughing at one of the interchangeable idols in the magazine proper.

It took awhile for Mukuro to realize that Junko was laughing at a shot of herself, only a few months back.

"Sister."

Mukuro began.

"Yep?"

"..."

Her silence would be a sign to anyone who'd been in the field before - it was a silence rudderless and lost without orders, a silence that said volumes - a silence that screamed for backup with all the quiet desperation of a passing moment.

"What am I... Supposed to do?"

Offering a half-hearted shrug between pages of her magazine, her sister was no longer paying any attention to Mukuro at all.

"I dunno. Go to school or something! It'd be pretty amusing to see someone like you graduating from a normal school, after all, even if it is 'Super High Level'!"

And as Junko's laughter cheerfully drifted out around her, Mukuro held her arms close to her chest and realized that she was well and truly alone.

~

"Ah, Ikusaba! You seem pretty out of shape. Uhmn... Is everything all right?"

The familiar sound of a voice calls her to attention, and Mukuro drifts out of her recent memories. It's been about a year since she started attending Hope's Peak, but actually interacting with the student body has been something kept to a tolerable minimum. Still -

She'd noticed that he seemed to always turn up when she was lost in thought. Makoto Naegi is the kind of guy who seems to have an almost intolerable knack for finding other people when they're down and trying to lend them a hand, not that she needed it. But neither did Mukuro hold it against him, like some did. For one thing - it was well intentioned enough, and for another...

"Yes. Everything is fine."

Her response is carefully measured as always, designed to reinforce the calm image that she has projected. That of a 'Super High School Level' Soldier, although the title always brings a sense of detached amusement to her lips. 

What was so especially worthy of praise about something like that? Regardless -

"Actually, I'm a little concerned about my sister. Junko is going to be taking some time off from school. She has already spoken with the headmaster about it."

With a little frown that exaggerates his youthful features, Makoto dashes in front of her, looking even more concerned.

"Junko, too? That's no good, it's like everyone's coming down with something. This and Kirigiri transferring out - "

The news catches her off-guard and an instant Mukuro is brought back to the present. Her eyes narrowed, she does her best to wear a perfectly neutral face - walking in linkstep with Makoto as the two step under the shade of a nearby tree.

"Kyoko is leaving school? That doesn't seem like her at all. Is she all right?"

Naegi beams, and it takes a little while for Mukuro to smile back at him.

"I knew you'd be concerned. I'll be sure to write her that you were - uhmn, but, Kirigiri seemed fine the last time we spoke? It was just so sudden - I feel like there's something really bad in the air, if that makes sense? Ahaha, sorry, sorry, I probably sound a bit like Hagakure, now..."

"No, I understand precisely how you feel. But you should relax - you dodged a real bullet."

Something about her wry smile must look unrehearsed, because Naegi's response - a long stare towards her that only fades with a slightly awkward chuckle - is unusual in and of itself. At first she wanted to kick herself for being so spontaneous -

But there's no reason to be reserved, after all. Junko has canceled their plans - she has no real reason to be aloof.

She has no real reason to do anything.

"Well, uh - thanks for the reassurance, Ikusaba. I'm sorry I couldn't help you with your own worries - "

"No. I mean - you did. Thank you."

Naegi's smile in return is almost painfully bright. If it were any other day, Mukuro would want it to go out, to not have to see someone looking so happy over so small a thing. And yet...

"Hey, Makoto."

It fades a bit, and internally Mukuro hates herself for ending the moment all too early.

"Why do you still call me by my last name? You can call me Mukuro, if you like."

And to her pleased surprise, his smile returns in a heartbeat, that same hopeful smile she's seen countless times before. If anything it's wider still.

"Sure - but that goes both ways, Mukuro!"

"Certainly... Naegi. Would you mind walking with me to class?"

Allowing herself the happy diversion of a few minutes as Naegi talks endlessly about some upcoming event with his family, Mukuro does her best to keep the remnants of a fading smile on her face as the tiny happiness she felt drifts away and becomes unfamiliar, once again.

~

The classroom itself is nearly empty. 

Moments before, Mukuro ponders, it was full with lively conversation. Oowada had been standing on a desk, belting out enka hits while Kuwata provided air guitar. But she'd made a habit out of waiting and watching the end of every class. Despite their friendships and relationships, the end was always the same. Goodbyes were exchanged, pleasantries drew to a still halt, and slowly - almost glacially - the atmosphere returned to a stagnant normalcy. And - if you waited by yourself -

You could count on a few moments of loneliness, every time.

It wasn't something she disliked - after seeing squads ambushed, loneliness was an old friend. But it, itself, had grown familiar to her - replaced with that awful numbness that couldn't bring itself to even react to what Junko had said.

_Was it truly over, then?_

Her mind retraced Junko's conversation earlier, trying to preserve memories of carefully flipped strands of hair and careless words spoken callously.

_It couldn't be... But it was._

Her eyes opened, and Mukuro stared up at the ceiling, watching strands of golden sunset highlight dust in the classroom.

"Ikusaba."

She had already seen Ishimaru come in, of course. His movements were stiff and professional, easy to follow. In any other setting, Ishimaru would be an easy target for anyone watching him.

"Ishimaru."

"You don't have to sit around in class, you know. Most everyone has gone home."

"I know."

Rising to her feet and shouldering her bag, Mukuro walks towards the door. Though Ishimaru's concern is visible, he doesn't seem to see her watching him, and doesn't seem to know what to say. To every other student, the disciplinarian has a ready quip, a piece of praise or scolding comment to make; but for Mukuro, there's nothing. 

First Ishimaru fades from vision, then the hallway and finally the school.

Her footsteps pace around the yards, looking for a sure footing. Pacing and pacing, Mukuro retraces her steps, each time leading her to nowhere new in particular -

Only tearing up the earth beneath her boots every cycle.

The routine itself is probably what allowed her to be caught off guard, this once.

A colossal crash echoing throughout the grounds as the sun falls down around them, Mukuro winces, rising to her feet quickly. The two people she bumped into however, are not quite so lucky.

"Awaaaaaaaaaah! Help me, help me, help me! We're under attack!"

Flailing against the dirt ineffectually, Yamada makes no effort at all to rise until realizing that no, nobody is under attack at all. Then - and with a surprising grace - he rolls to his feet and places his hands against his legs.

"Oh. M'lady Ikusaba! It seems we've been caugh, muhuhuh - "

Laughing bizarrely, Yamada completely manages to ignore the young woman glaring up from the grass at him.

"Help me up, you oaf."

"Eh? Princess Celestia, never fear! I shall assist you!"

"Too late. I'm up."

With a regal poise that manages to hide the fact she'd fallen off of Yamada's back mere moments before, Celestia is standing and presentable with the same poise Mukuro had watched the gambler ply countless times before - from a distance, of course.

"What were the two of you doing back here..?"

Perhaps it was a mistake to ask, but having nothing better to do, Mukuro asks it all the same. Celestia opens her mouth to answer, but that was her first mistake. A consummate liar, after all, can only lie to people who expect the truth of them. If you never expect honesty in any circumstance - 

"Celes and I were simply out piggy-back riding before heading to a certain restaurant! Oho, but the greater question by far is... What were you doing out here, Ikusaba?"

Adjusting his glasses as he intervenes with a surprising sense of timing, Yamada shoots a mischievous stare at her - leaving Mukuro feeling uncertain. Though it's easy enough to tell whatever Celestia might've said would be a lie, if it was Yamada...

"I take it she was riding your back, and not the other way around..?"

Given it's said with the same quiet as everything she says, it takes the two to realize Mukuro is joking - then they both laugh, Yamada all too heartily and Celestia quietly - but not unpleasantly.

"I was just wasting time."

Her skyward smile is a bit off-kilter. Junko might tell her to straighten it out, to look more enthused;

Or maybe Junko wouldn't even notice.

"What? That's entirely miserable. Even a straight-laced soldier such as yourself should have some fun once in awhile. Servant! What do you think we invite Ikusaba with us? She's manly enough to carry the bags I don't foist off on you..."

"Oho! Spoken like a true princess, Celes! Gladly, gladly. Of course, my latest work hasn't sold really well - I couldn't charge the people for what their hearts desired, after all! So I'm afraid I'm placing myself humbly at your mercy..."

"Screw it. I'm feeling generous, so of course I'll treat you both, this once. Though I'll be collecting some interest on that kindness in the future!" 

Whistling to herself with a professional smile, Celestia and Yamada continue to engage in pleasant conversation. Finding herself feeling unfamiliar, Mukuro is content to simply watch - until the two notice that she's gone completely silent, simply watching them.

"That's kinda creepy, Ikusaba. Do you make a habit of staring at everyone you come across?"

"Now, now, Celes, maybe Ikusaba has a good reason for looking like that - like a fond memory of a handsome prince, or a childhood pet - or maybe she's having a stroke."

"H-how the hell do either of those things go together, you idiot? Hey! Ikusaba! You aren't having a stroke, are you?"

Mukuro laughs - an unfamiliar, genuine laugh. Reflecting on the sound as she does, she briefly wonders if she wouldn't if more people heard laughter like that. 

"No. No, I'm not. I wouldn't mind getting a bite to eat. Shall we?"

~

It turns out that shopping comes first, and Celestia is true to her word - by the end, both Yamada and and Mukuro are weighed down entirely by bags filled with various kind of supplies for what Celestia promises to be some kind of class project, but in reality seem almost entirely to be tea, junk food, and various cheap romantic novels. The latter are split evenly between Yamada, whose passion for light novella is something of an urban legend, and Celestia - whose careful refusal to discuss the vast stacks of tawdry period dramas says more then the blush on her pale face.

Perhaps to Mukuro's surprise, the evening isn't entirely...

But it passes quickly enough, and soon they find themselves in a cheap outdoor noodle place, the kind that she could easily imagine Yamada eating at in a hurry between working on his latest passion project. Celestia, however, cuts an entirely in incongruent figure as she wolfs down a plate of dumplings in between sniping at Yamada and drinking green tea - in a restrained and faux-elegant manner, of course.

As she watches steam rise off a plate of noodles, Mukuro muses quietly at the speed with which things have moved forward. For one, imagining the likes of Yamada and Celes together seems peculiar indeed, and imaging herself eating along with them is -

Celestia interrupts her reflection with one sharp fingernail to the side.

"Hey. Are you going to finish that, or did I end up flattering you with my presence just to have you space out on us again?"

"The latter."

Once again, Celestia looks completely caught-off guard by Mukuro's dry comeback. Finishing off her plate, Mukuro stares at the two of them - staring at her.

"Sorry. Thank you, both of you. Tonight was..."

_Fun._

"I was glad to be with both of you. But..."

It wasn't something she wanted to ask, but the words hang in the air like rolling thunder before escaping Mukuro's lips.

"Not many people would choose to invite me along with them. Why did you do that?"

"Well, speaking for myself, obviously, but Celestia Ludenberg isn't most people! And hey, if I want to - "

Yamada whispers something short, perhaps four-letters. The sound is brief, and quiet, and Mukuro can't quite make it out - despite having some knowledge at lip-reading. Whatever it is, a brief blush and a nod force Celestia to rethink whatever she was going to say, some of the confrontational edge leaving her voice as she carefully chooses her next words.

"... You just seemed like you needed a friend. Nagi was talking to you for ages about that family trip he's taking and you were just bobbing your head along, all disinterested-like. Anyone would be unnerved at the sight."

"Family trip?"

"To Hokkaido. You really weren't listening, were you?"

Celestia's voice fades out as Mukuro thinks to herself once again. The dark alley night washes over them, and her two companions seem to drift an endless distance away - into their own conversation, and their own world. 

Naegi really cares for his family. 

Having a family must be -

"Thanks for the food."

Leaving some money behind her, Mukuro feels the chill drift around her as some sounds behind her disappear into the growing night, a strange new idea growing fragile in her mind.

~

The snow is light, barely covering the grass. But to a soldier, it's enough to mask footfall and yet give away a single wrong step; to serve as camouflage when properly prepared, and highlight recently fallen blood.

And most of all, it's just enough to betray those who dwell amongst it to those who watch carefully.

Mukuro watches the cold steam of her breath rise against the rifle, though her eyes never leave the sights.

The deer she has been watching for the last thirty minutes has not moved since she first saw it, save to move to and fro against the cold air - and for the first time, it stares back at her.

It's face is expressionless and yet warm. It cannot possibly see her, and yet it never stares away, simply watching her - watching it.

Perhaps her fingers slip, or perhaps she meant to; but the trigger is familiar and comforting as her fingertips curl around it.

Through the sights, Mukuro watches the blood escape the exit wound, clean and red.

The snow crunches against her feet quietly as she makes her way towards the fallen animal, cradling it as the last light of life disappears from it's prone form.

And then it is prone, and she is simply holding a still-warm corpse against the cold dark of the island.

"Mukuro!"

The surprised greeting comes from some distance behind her as Mukuro sets to work skinning the deer, face expressionless. The word comes from a great distance, and she can hear several sets of footsteps arriving behind her. Two larger, heavier, older - one light and cautious, deeply familiar - engrained upon her memory, something she couldn't forget if she tried. The last are even lighter still, and fall several moments after those she knows, hesitantly.

"Naegi."

"I... didn't know you were going to be here too. If I'd known I would've invited you with me, aha, ehmn..."

"I didn't know I was coming here either. Is this your family?"

Rising to her feet as she carefully obscures the fallen animal with her form, Mukuro takes in the sight of Naegi's family. They look much like him - bright-eyed and warm, confused and yet optimistic, clustered together in the snow, scared of the threat of an unexpected wolf.

Smiling toothily, Mukuro's hands slip into her jacket pockets.

"It's nice to meet all of you. I'm Ikusaba Mukuro. Your son's classmate."

The Makoto family have sent up a small tent for their vacation, and the smell of simmering stew and stock made from fresh bone and blood soon fills the temporary dwelling. 

"Geeze, Mukuro, that smells amazing! I didn't know you were a good cook - "

"One of us has to. Junko isn't very good with that sort of thing, so I learned myself." 

She smiles a little, uncharacteristically and frightened that if she stops it might disappear.

But it's something she can do, something that Junko can't - something that Naegi likes.

"Uhmn, miss - "

It almost makes Mukuro laugh, how similar Naegi's mother sounds to him. His whole family seems to share the boy's easy nerves and friendly confusion, save perhaps the daughter - who has been watching, awestruck, the entire time.

"Yes?"

"Are you and my son, well.."

Her laughter is a little less fragile, a little less uncertain this time - no one in this room is going to pull out a gun, or a knife - perhaps a spoon. 

"I don't really know."

The atmosphere eases entirely, perceiving her easy comment as a joke - and perhaps it is. Soon, they're eating "The best darn stew I've ever had!" as Naegi's father puts it, the rest of the animal having been stored in ice outside. Her eyes never leave Naegi as he eats, skittishly and nervously. Something about the sight makes her feel unpleasant, and soon Mukuro has excused herself, leaving to walk amongst the cold night air.

Outside a light snow has began to fall - reassuring and pleasant. 

Mukuro hears Naegi leave the tent and stand beside her, waiting for her to speak - a real gentleman, the amused thought crosses her mind.

"Mukuro..."

"I guess I just remembered what you were saying to me, and I wanted to see you again. I honestly didn't expect to, but that's how these things work."

As they walk amongst the snow, Naegi constantly shoots glances back to his family's tent. 

"They think you're amazing. My sister wants to be you when she grows up - "

Mistaking Mukuro's harsh laughter as further dry humour, Naegi's words tumble forward in an incoherent stream.

"- And I never really imagined something like this'd happen so readily, but I'm not sure how I feel about anything and - "

"It's all right. Neither do I. But I... Thanks for looking out after me, earlier. I wanted to thank you, I mean."

For the first time, Mukuro feels at rest as the snow collapses to the grass around them - tinted as it is in the dark, feeling like a match to her eyes.

"Besides. I don't know if I've ever told you this - but I like guys like you. If it wouldn't be too much of a pain, I wouldn't mind hanging out in the future...?"

It's cautious, ready to sprint off into the distance in search for easier prey if his response is cruel or disinterested. But as always, Naegi's response is as blunt as always as his face shines with the same effervescent warmth she's seen on it - time and time again.

"Not a chance."

And - 

Wait, wait, wait...

Naegi continues laughing as Mukuro stares for a few minutes, at a point entirely beyond the laughing young man she isn't familiar with at all. Then, without a response save a few soundless and meaningless mumbled words, she turns and wanders off into the distance, footfall silent against the snow.

Every step seems to echo against her ears as she goes further and further afield, no longer certain where the Makoto family was, nor where she came from - only that even the familiar weight of the rifle fails to feel comfortable against her back.

It's a given, of course, that she sees her at the land's end.

"Yo, sis! Having fun yet?"

Mukuro is silent as Junko, impervious to the inclement weather, flashes her a wide grin.

"Sorry, sorry - I kind of lied? See, I'd had this idea that was really super, I'm talking super high-level super-duper! It was that - maybe this whole project would be even better if I got everyone in on it! It's taken a year to get everyone in the right headspace for our - well, I guess it's my - little plan, now? And you wouldn't even BELIEVE how I've had to convince people, geeze! But the point is, I did, right?"

"Junko..."

She doesn't cry, but the word itself a cry - dry and quiet. She wants her older sister to laugh and tell her that she was just kidding, to say something, anything to make this a big joke, even if it's at her expense.

"And then I thought - what's the best way to test this other then to try to make my favorite sister feel the best kind of despair imaginable? Isn't that something else?.. Don't worry. I'd never let you ever feel anything like a normal life, sis. I know how much that'd ruin someone like you - don't worry, there, there."

Trapaizing through the snow as if it were a field of poppies and not an early winter evening, Junko's fingers are nevertheless against warm and familiar against her back, tenderly cruel as they hold Mukuro to her, tightly.

"So how is it, sis..? Are you feeling terrible? Sad? Nightmarish? Does it feel wonderfully terrible?"

"No."

Junko's hands stop their familiar caress as Mukuro says the one thing which could possibly catch her all-knowing sister off guard.

"I don't feel much of anything, at all."

The retort of a rifle cracks against the night air, and Mukuro falls to her feet - staring into the distance as the snow closes in around the uncaring world around them.


End file.
